


Wishes Come True Sometimes

by dragons_SRSunn



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies), The Isle of the Lost Series - Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: Mentions of random villain kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-16 13:41:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29825817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragons_SRSunn/pseuds/dragons_SRSunn
Summary: The student lounge was filled with chatter, laughter, and the crackle of the television (as well as lots of glitter, for some reason). Today was the day four new VKs would be chosen to attend Auradon Prep, and several of their future schoolmates were watching to see who would be chosen. It would be filmed live from the Isle of the Lost.Among the group of AKs were two VKs who were technically not supposed to be in Auradon but had talked their way in anyway. Well, one of them had. The other one was officially on the run, but had come to the school so she could watch who would be chosen with her best friend.
Relationships: Freddie Facilier & Calista Jane "CJ" Hook, Freddie Facilier & Celia Facilier
Kudos: 2





	Wishes Come True Sometimes

**Author's Note:**

> This was really written by a friend who was too shy to get her own account.
> 
> Disclaimer: I (the friend) have not watched any of the Descendants movies or Wicked World. What I know about Descendants comes from the Isle of the Lost books, four of the novellas, the novelization of Descendants 1, a few of the graphic novels, random things I read online, what my cousin who did watch Descendants told me, and fanfictions. Due to this, there might be mistakes; let me know if something is inaccurate and should be corrected.

The student lounge was filled with chatter, laughter, and the crackle of the television (as well as lots of glitter, for some reason). Today was the day four new VKs would be chosen to attend Auradon Prep, and several of their future schoolmates were watching to see who would be chosen. It would be filmed live from the Isle of the Lost.

Among the group of AKs were two VKs who were technically not supposed to be in Auradon but had talked their way in anyway. Well, one of them had. The other one was officially on the run, but had come to the school so she could watch who would be chosen with her best friend. CJ had somehow managed to sneak, bluff, and/or bribe her way past security, and had made it all the way into the student lounge before someone noticed her. By the time she gave her reasons for why she should be able to watch the events of the day with the rest of them-she was a VK too, she was curious, it was more fun to watch with other people, she wanted to see the people on the Isle-it was almost time to start, and Lonnie pointed out that they might as well let her watch with them and call security afterward. It wasn't like she could escape a whole room full of AKs.

 _That's what you think,_ CJ thought as she placed bets with Bobby Hood's younger brother about who would be chosen.

But Freddie knew why CJ was really there. CJ knew what Freddie was hoping for, and she was risking her freedom so she could be there for her whether or not her hope became reality, and Freddie was grateful for it. Not every Isle kid, having made it off the desolate rock that was their home, would be willing to go to a place where they could get caught and sent back, giving emotional support to a friend notwithstanding.

"Sit _down_ , Freddie," CJ urged her, turning away from her wagers. "Stop pacing."

"I need to do _something,_ " Freddie muttered. "I'm nervous."

"Really? I didn't notice."

"Don't be so sarcastic, CJ."

Freddie had been gradually getting tenser and tenser all week. She'd barely paid attention to what her teachers were saying, she showed up in the wrong classes, and her nails were bitten nearly to the quick.

"What are you nervous about?" Ruby wanted to know. "That they'll pick an enemy of yours or something."

"We don't have enemies," CJ informed her proudly. "Everyone's too scared of us to be our enemy."

"Really," Audrey sniffed. She'd been in a bad mood for a while now.

"Really!" CJ assured her. "Although it helps when your brother is a hook-waving maniac. And your sister heads a crew of pirates." She gestured to Freddie. "And when your father is the principal of your school and can either give detentions or bans from the arcade."

"Maybe don't mention Harry?" Freddie suggested.

"He's the one who-" Lonnie, who appeared to be organizing several sharp knives and daggers for some reason, started.

"Exactly." Freddie sighed. "CJ, I really don't want you to be arrested..."

"She kidnapped the king!" Audrey yelped.

CJ held up a finger. "Technically, I only held him captive. I didn't actually remove him from the premises. The definition of kidnap is to "take away by force." We had a class on kidnapping methods in, what was it, Freddie, eighth grade? I didn't take Ben away. Now, my brother, on the other hand..."

Freddie groaned. CJ was going to get herself arrested within five minutes if she went on like this. Like she needed more things to worry about.

"You have classes on kidnapping methods?" Doug asked, shuffling his half of the deck of card he and Chad were playing with.

"Dragon Hall has classes on everything!" CJ proclaimed.

"Except things that are useful in real life," Freddie noted. "I really need to talk with my father about updating the curriculum."

CJ frowned; Freddie was usually the biggest defender of Dragon Hall, what with her father being the headmaster. "Why?"

"They teach us how to manage on the Isle," Freddie explained, "but not the real world. Both of us came here not knowing anything more than seventh-grade math, for instance. I had to get a tutor."

"They teach math after seventh grade?" CJ wondered.

"Yes," everyone else said.

"What for?"

"Exactly!" Ruby yelled triumphantly. Ruby hated math and was constantly on the lookout for anything that reinforced her philosophy that high school math was pointless.

"But math is important," Ally piped up. "You need math so you can figure out the square angle of a wabe! Or calculate the measure of a refracted looking glass! Or see where you will end up when your pawn is the queen!"

Everyone stared at her.

"...What?" Lonnie asked.

"What was hard to understand?" Ally asked earnestly.

Audrey rolled her eyes.

The television crackled.

"It's starting!" Jordan announced.

Everyone sat down except Freddie, who continued pacing.

"Sit down!" Someone from the back yelled. "You're blocking the screen! I want to see!"

"Be polite!" Jordan called.

"Yeah, I thought Auradon people were all nice and friendly all the time!" CJ added.

"Not if you block my view!" the kid in the back called.

"And they said I had bad priorities!" CJ yelled back.

But she sat, pulling Freddie down with her. "Seriously, Fred, let's watch. It'll be done soon. At least we'll know for sure."

"Don't call me Fred," Freddie muttered, fidgeting.

The television crackled again.

"Why is the reception so bad?" Chad wondered aloud.

"It's being streamed from the Isle," Freddie pointed out. "The barrier gets in the way. My phone conversations with my father and sister are _so_ staticky-"

"Shhh!" yelled the kid in the back, sort of defeating his own wish.

Everyone's attention was drawn to the screen.

On the Isle of the Lost, Mal and Evie ascended a balcony, each holding a piece of paper. Jay and Carlos were on the steps of the balcony, also with some paper.

"I can't believe this day has finally arrived," Evie said as the VKs cheered. "I honestly wish we could take you all with us and some day, very soon, maybe we can."

"Where were they until now?" CJ muttered.

"Sshh," Freddie hissed.

"I just thought of something," Jordan said. "Jay, Mal, Evie, and Carlos are the only ones who went to the Isle, right?"

"Yes," Jane confirmed. "Just in case there was an incident or something."

"Like the _last_ time an AK went to the island?" Lonnie asked.

"Sheesh," CJ muttered. "You kidnap one king, and no one lets you forget i-hey! There's Harriet in the back!"

"Where?" Freddie asked. "Oh! Next to Sammy and Jade! She looks well. Do you think she submitted an application?"

CJ considered this. "She wouldn't have if not absolutely everyone in her crew had. They have family on the Isle. Sammy might not have, he might not have wanted to leave his father, although Harriet told me the Smee twins did. Jade's mother is sick...Clay has his little brother...The Tremaines wouldn't have left any members of their family behind, although Dizzy sent in an application, but they told her to, she's the youngest-my point is that some people on Harriet's crew have reasons to stay on the Isle-at least until they can get more people off-and Harriet wouldn't have submitted an application unless her entire crew did too."

"Wait," Doug said. "Why wouldn't she have submitted an application? Doesn't she want to get off the Isle?"

Freddie and CJ looked at Doug as though he'd suggested something unthinkable. "She's their captain!" CJ said, sounding surprised.

Everyone looked at each other, confused. 

CJ huffed in frustration. "I can't believe you don't understand this! Look, being a captain is a privilege. You get your crew loyal to you, but you also have to be loyal to _them_. It goes both ways. A captain always goes down with the ship-you've ever had of that expression? Because a captain is responsible for everything that goes on in the ship, and for the entire crew. You have to earn their loyalty and respect-and if you don't, than you don't deserve to be captain, and someone worthier than you will take your position. That's why Uma wouldn't accept Ben's offer, you know."

Everyone looked at each other again, this time slightly in shock and awe that things like unconditional loyalty existed on the Isle.

"Look," Freddie pointed out. "Loyalty is loyalty, gratitude is gratitude, your captain is your captain-if we didn't have _some_ sense of a semi-normal society everyone would have killed each other like five years in."

"What does that have to do with Uma not accepting Ben's offer?" Audrey challenged.

"He offered _her_ freedom from the Isle," CJ explained. "Under duress, so he probably wouldn't have kept his promise. And he didn't offer that to any of her crew. She wasn't going to abandon them."

"But she left them right after, by Cotillion!" Ruby protested.

"Yeah, but she was _going_ to get them off," CJ explained. "She had a whole plan, which Mal ruined."

"Which side are you on?" Ruby muttered.

"So," Lonnie began, automatically going into strategizing mode. "The Isle has two pirate crews, both of which will do anything for their captains?"

"More than that, but the two main crews of kids-VKs-yes. And the captains will do anything for their crews. Harriet's the captain of one, and Harry's the first mate of the other, and they're my siblings, so I have an in with both crews," CJ bragged.

"Which one are you on?" Arabella asked.

"Both and neither!"

" _That_ cleared that up," Audrey muttered.

"No, it really did!" Ally said.

"I don't belong to either crew," CJ explained. "But I go back and forth between them, I help them out whenever one needs me, I run messages between them...I have a free pass with both crews. Whenever they're fighting about something they use me as the go-between. Hey, Freddie, remember that time Harriet and Uma kept kidnapping each other's crew members-"

"Until there was like no one left on either side! That was funny."

"Don't let Uma hear you say that. She takes pirating very seriously."

"Uh, wait," Doug said. "They kidnapped each other's crew?"

"Yeah," CJ said. "They started fighting about fishing rights, and then Harriet kidnapped Bonny, and Uma got Clay, so Harriet took Jonas-long story short, they ended up with just Uma, Harry, and Gil on one side, and Harriet, Sammy, and Jade on the other side, and then they realized that they couldn't very well guard almost another entire crew and man the ship _and_ keep fighting about fishing, so they called me in to negotiate terms." She grinned. "I think I did quite nicely."

"Why is fishing so important?" Aziz asked from the corner where he was sitting.

CJ, Freddie, and Arabella all stared at him like he had announced that the sky was orange or something.

"Fish is a main staple on island communities!" Arabella exclaimed.

"Especially on an island where we can't trade and can't sail further than a certain point into the sea," CJ added. "Fish is like the only fresh food we get. It's more important now than ever, what with the embargo."

Freddie and CJ each shivered slightly (although neither would admit it) remembering the chaotic days after the embargo had been announced and the food shortage that had followed. Food was always scarce on the Isle, but after the embargo...it had been worse. And the panicked riot right after the embargo had been announced had definitely not helped. Freddie, CJ, and Dr. Facilier had boarded up the arcade without venturing out for a few days, while CJ had spent about a week going stir-crazy on Harriet's ship, which had been anchored offshore, right at the barrier, groups of pirates occasionally venturing onto land in shifts to see what was going on and what could be done.

Aziz held up his hands in surrender. "I'm from the desert. I don't know about oceans and islands. That's why I asked."

" _Anyway_ ," Jordan (who was also from the desert) said. "This is all very interesting, and possibly warrants further discussion, but my point was, if the four of them are the only ones from Auradon on the Isle, how did they get there? Who drove?"

Everyone blinked, considering this.

"Probably Carlos drove," CJ suggested. "Cruella used to make him drive her around, which is ridiculous, because everything on the Isle is within walking distance of everything else. Or maybe Jay."

"Wait, Carlos can drive?" Jane asked.

"He got a license as soon as he was old enough," Freddie said, tapping her feet impatiently. "He was terrified that he'd be caught driving underage without a license and sent back to the Isle."

Jane blinked."That's ridiculous! Nobody's sent to the Isle for driving without a license!"

" _You're_ not," Freddie pointed out. "Us VKs are basically on permanent probation."

Jane hadn't thought of that before, and, judging by their expressions, neither had the other AKs.

"Why didn't he tell me he got a license?" Jane asked nobody in particular, trying not to sound hurt.

"I think he wanted to surprise you," Freddie suggested.

"Who else here can drive?" Jordan wanted to know.

"I can," Aziz said. "Although I don't usually need to-a flying carpet comes in very handy."

"I can," Chad added. "Remember that time I drove six hours to change your tire, Audrey?"

"Yes," Audrey said, her face expressionless.

"I can!" CJ piped up.

"You can?" Freddie asked, surprised. "Since when?"

"You have a license?" Lonnie asked. What motor vehicle department would give a known-all right, perhaps not criminal, exactly, but definitely a person of interest-a license?

"I didn't say anything about a license," CJ pointed out. "I just said I could drive."

"You drive without a license?" Jane asked.

"She's from the Isle," Jordan noted. "This really shocks you?"

CJ grinned, twirling her precious pocket watch around by its chain. "It's fun! It's almost like steering a ship."

"Your father never trusted you with steering the _Jolly Roger_ ," Freddie noted.

"Which I really found very insulting! How does he know I'd be a bad skipper? I manage my rowboat very well!"

"But who taught you how to drive?" Ally asked curiously.

CJ shrugged. "I borrowed somebody's car and figured it out myself. No, really! I returned it! I mean, yeah, I returned it like a month later after I'd figured out how to use it, but I returned it! I think all the Auradon glitteriness is rubbing off on me," she added to Freddie. She grabbed a handful of glitter that was in a bowl on the table and threw it in Chad's general direction. "Why do you have glitter on the table?" 

"It's pretty," Arabella said defensively.

"How did you teach yourself all the gears and everything?" Aziz asked.

"There are gears?" CJ asked.

Everyone exchanged nervous glances. 

"Um, yes," Aziz replied. "You don't use the gears? How do you park?"

"I just stop the car," CJ explained. "Why, how do you park?"

"By putting the car into 'park!' How do you keep it from rolling away?"

CJ flipped open her pocket watch and checked the time. "I just stop the car up against a wall or something."

" _I_ have a license," Chad felt the need to inform everyone. " _I_ follow the rules."

"Yes, Chad," Lonnie muttered. "We know."

"Aren't we getting sort of sidetracked?" CJ asked the room at large.

Freddie's eyes had never left the television screen. "They're announcing the names now." 

CJ patted her shoulder in what she obviously thought was a friendly gesture but actually sort of jolted Freddie sideways. Freddie didn't mind; she knew CJ meant well. She was glad the youngest Hook was here.

"My Dizzy!" Evie on the screen was announcing.

Dizzy shrieked in delight as the other VKs cheered.

"Awww," a bunch of the AK girls said.

"Well, of course Dizzy was going to get picked," CJ said, tapping her feet impatiently. "She and Evie are like sisters. She already got an invitation. And she's too...too _cheerful_ for the Isle. How she got to be that way with Drizella as her mother I have no idea."

 _What about people's actual sisters?_ Freddie thought, but she didn't say that. CJ had family on the Isle too. Instead, she said, "You say cheerful like that's a bad thing."

"Well, there's such a thing as being _too_ cheerful, Frederica. It gets annoying. Sometimes you want good old-fashioned grumpiness."

"What, and grumpiness isn't annoying? And don't call me Frederica, _Calista_."

"Your name is Calista?" Doug asked. "That's what the C stands for?"

"Yes," CJ admitted. "But don't call me that. Or else."

"She means it," Freddie warned him. The only people CJ allowed to call her by her given name were Harriet and Harry. Anyone else would learn an immediate and sometimes painful lesson.

Ruby asked Freddie, "Isn't your father French originally? I would have thought your full name would be Frederique or something."

"It's from my mother's side," Freddie explained. Apparently her mother's mother's name had been Frederica. The plan had been for Celia to be given a name from their father's side, maybe after _his_ mother, but their mother's death had changed that.

"What's does the J stand for?" Chad asked CJ.

CJ sighed. "Jane."

"Hey!" Jane said. "That's my name!"

"Really?" CJ asked sarcastically. "I hadn't noticed."

"CJ..." Freddie sighed.

"Next..." Carlos began.

"Get on with it," CJ muttered, tapping her fingers against each other. She hated being in one place for more than too long. She like to run around. She hated feeling trapped.

"Is the son of Smee!" Carlos finished. "Come on, Squeaky."

"What, just _one_ of them?" CJ sounded outraged. "You can't separate them!"

" And no way we're splitting up the twins, so get over here, Squirmy, come on," Jay announced. motioning for the other Smee twin to come over.

CJ grinned. "At least you guys did something right! Really, they need to get off the Isle," she continued to Freddie. "They're too timid for the Isle. Harriet and her crew look out for them, but I'm glad they're getting off. Hey, I wonder if-"

"You are not going to make them your minions, CJ," Freddie said without looking.

"How'd you know I was going to say that?" CJ demanded.

"Because I know you."

"I'd be a good captain to them!"

Freddie sighed. CJ had a tendency to try to be in charge of everything and everyone; it came from being the youngest of rather overbearing family members. And the Smee twins were like little brothers to her. But still-"I know. But you should let them at least try to have their own life. It's not like they can be part of a pirate crew in Auradon, like they are now. You don't even have a ship to order them to swab the deck of or something!"

"I have a rowboat!"

"CJ..."

CJ sighed. She knew Freddie was right. "Fiiiine." Then, in a quieter tone, she added, "But look out for them for me, will you?"

"I'll do my best," Freddie promised.

"They're names are _Squeaky_ and _Squirmy_?" Arabella asked disbelievingly. "Who names their kids Squeaky and Squirmy?"

"Smee when he couldn't think of anything else," CJ said, her face deadpan.

"Yeah, but...he couldn't have named them...Sam or Sammy or Samuel or something?"

"Those are all variants of the same name," Ally pointed out.

"They already have an older brother named Sammy, and _his_ full name is Samuel," CJ said. 

"I don't think it being the same name would have been so much of an issue," Freddie said. "Gaston named two of his sons after himself, after all."

"Not everyone is as egotistical as Gaston is," CJ pointed out.

"Gaston named _two_ of his sons after himself?" Lonnie asked, sliding one of her knives into her sheath and starting to juggle two more absentmindedly. "Doesn't that get confusing?"

" _Yes_ ," Freddie and CJ said at the same time.

" And last, but certainly not least," Mal said. Everyone quieted down. Freddie tensed; her nails would have been digging into her palms if they'd been long enough.

"If they don't pick her," CJ whispered, "I am going to give Evie and the others a piece of my mind."

Freddie knew CJ was serious. And a piece of her mind could involve sharp weapons and explosions. She was CJ, after all. Freddie wasn't sure all that would be necessary, but... "Thanks," she whispered, and meant it.

"We picked this girl because we all agreed that she could use a little bit of Fairy Godmother's goodness class," Mal continued.

CJ didn't even make the obvious joke about how pretty much everyone on the Isle could use some goodness class. That's how Freddie knew CJ was almost as nervous as she was.

"Give it on up for Dr. Facilier's daughter, Celia!" Mal announced.

"YES!" Freddie yelled, jumping out of her seat and spinning around and around, nervous energy and tension flooding out of her, to be replaced by excitement.

"I knew it!" CJ added, jumping up on top of her seat so she could see the screen better. 

"So why were you betting with me about who would get picked?" Bobby Hood's brother wanted to know, looking upset at the amount of money he'd just lost.

"I like to cover all my bases," CJ said breezily. "Seriously, though," she added to Freddie, "I was a little nervous, but with the amount of times you've nagged Evie about it, how could they _not_ pick her? If Evie gets Dizzy, you should get Celia! Really, once Dizzy was chosen it was almost certain they were going to pick Celia too," CJ said, trying to pretend she'd been certain of the outcome."They seem to keep picking pairs of friends to come over."

"Do they?" Aziz asked.

"Me and Freddie are friends," CJ pointed out.

"You came here illegally," Aziz pointed out. "No offense."

Freddie shrugged. "None taken." It was true. Besides, at this moment, pretty much anyone could say almost anything to her and she would barely notice, let alone be insulted.

CJ waved that aside(literally-her hand almost smacked Ally, who barely managed to dodge). "Fine, but how about Mal and the others? Mal and Jay were friends...Carlos and Evie were friends...Although Mal and Evie hated each other because Evie didn't invite Mal to her sixth birthday party so Maleficent made them lock themselves up in their castle for ten years..."

"Wait, what?" Lonnie asked.

"Isle politics," Freddie explained.

"Wait," Jordan said. "That's your sister who just got chosen? Congratulations! I'm so happy for both of you!"

"She looks like you! I can't wait to meet her!" Ally added. "Maybe I can teach her chess! Does she like chess?"

"She likes card games," Freddie said, feeling almost bewildered at the good wishes of people who had never even met her sister. "And..." She trailed off as Celia ascended the balcony.

It was the first time she had seen her sister in two years. Sure, she'd made phone calls an written letters to her father and sister, but it wasn't the same as seeing them in person.

Freddie had left behind an almost-eleven-year-old; Celia was now just past thirteen. She was thin (what Isle kid wasn't?) but otherwise seemed to be in good health. Her eyes were bright with excitement and mischief-so that hadn't changed, at least. She was a few inches taller. Not to mention her hair...

"She looks...older," Freddie said.

"She _is_ older," CJ informed her.

"I know, but..." Freddie trailed off.

What kind of sister was she? She'd abandoned her sister on the Isle for more than _two years_! Not even the Gastons would do that to each other! Siblings were siblings, even (especially) on the Isle of the Lost. Take the Hooks, for example. Sure, Harriet and Harry and CJ may have fought a lot, but when it really came down to it, they had each other's backs no matter what.

Sure, her sister had their father. Sure, Freddie hadn't known she was going to Auradon almost until she was there. But still! She could have come back! Or, more sensibly, she could have gotten Celia over! She could have talked to Evie about this _way_ before now! Why hadn't she done anything?

"You did some things," CJ said. Freddie wondered how much of that she'd said out loud. "You sent letters and food and stuff. You did what you could."

"You sent things past the barrier?" Audrey asked.

"Yes," Freddie said. "You know all those times you saw me walking out of school toward the barges with a garbage bag? What did you think I was doing?"

"Throwing out the garbage?" Aziz suggested. "It's a reasonable assumption."

Freddie sighed. "No. I was putting a bag of decent nonperishable food plus whatever medicine I could get my hands on and sending it to my family and everyone else on the Isle."

"How could you be sure it would go to your family?" Jordan asked.

"The pirates are almost always the first ones to get to the barges," CJ said. "I told Harriet-"

"You talked to her? How?"

"I rowed up to this side of the barrier and threw a letter in a bottle," CJ said. "I meet up with my siblings there every couple of months or so. I bring food and bottled water and stuff from my side. Plus I figure I should let them know I'm alive every so often. Anyway, I told Harriet and Harry to make sure that some of the good stuff Freddie was sending went to the Faciliers, plus the letters Freddie sent with me."

Freddie was still focused on her sister. "Yeah, but I just left her! No goodbye, no nothing! What did she do without me?"

"Not to mention her hair," CJ said, trying to distract Freddie.

"And her hair! It didn't used to be all red like that! Did she dye it?"

"No, Freddie," CJ said, intentionally turning on the sarcasm. "Her hair started turning red all by itself."

Freddie glared at her.

CJ grinned; at least Freddie was no longer feeling guilty. For now, at least. "Look, Dizzy is her best friend. She probably dyed her hair in exchange for getting her fortune told or something. Besides, it's not like _you_ have never dyed _your_ hair."

"I dyed my hair _one_ time for _one_ day when I was almost _two years_ older than Celia is now."

"Good thing it was washable dye," CJ mused. "You looked awful in fuchsia."

"Like _you_ looked any better in magenta," Freddie shot back.

"Yeah," CJ agreed. "That's the last time I trust Anya Tremaine with hair dye. She's really good at styling hair, but dying it? Not so much."

"We'll be back for you guys next week," Carlos was telling the four soon-to-be-students of Auradon Prep.

"And so, pack your stuff-your own stuff," Jay said, as the Isle kids plus Freddie and CJ chuckled.

"Why do they get to have a week?" CJ wanted to know. "We didn't have a week!"

" _You_ weren't supposed to come here," Audrey pointed out. 

CJ waved that aside. "Okay, so what about Mal and the other three? They didn't have a week either. They had like half an hour. Also, who on the Isle owns enough stuff that it would take a week to pack it?"

"Actually, their parents were notified a week beforehand," Freddie said, bouncing on the toes of her feet. She felt as though some of CJ's energy had been transferred to her. "They just didn't tell them until right before-they didn't want word getting out about the plan to steal the wand."

"How do you know?" CJ asked.

"My father had to send their school records to Auradon Prep," Freddie explained.

Lonnie's eyes narrowed. "Why would it matter if word got out about the plan to steal the wand? It's not like any of the villains could do anything about it anyway-or would want to."

"Well, not them," CJ clarified. "But in case word got to Auradon. A couple of pirates talk to some news reporters with nothing else to do once in a while. Each of them row up to their side of the barrier, and the pirates tell them anything interesting that happened, and they pay them. Everyone's always looking for a way to make a little extra money."

Fairy Godmother walked into the room. "Well, I hope you're all going to welcome-Bibbiddi-Bobbidi!" She spotted CJ. "How did you get in here?"

"Aaand that's my cue," CJ said, leaping up. "See ya soon, Frederica." CJ zigzagged around the room, dodging several outstretched arms, ducked under a table, scrambled up on the other side, weaved her way around a few chairs, jumped over a few more(some with people in them), ducked out of the reach of several more would-be captors, and finally made it to the window, where she grabbed on to the windowpane and swung herself out sideways before disappearing from view.

Years of climbing the rigging on various family member's ships had given CJ strong muscles, good reflexes, and an excellent head for heights.

Fairy Godmother ran back out of the room, calling for security. Everyone else ran over to the window to see if they could spot CJ, but not Freddie. She knew CJ would be long gone.

Freddie skipped(yes, skipped)back to her room, humming to herself. Celia was coming to Auradon! Everything was going to be better now! She would apologize to Celia. She would make up for lost time. Her sister was going to live in Auradon now, where she would be safe and happy and never be in danger.

She couldn't wait!


End file.
